2011/07/28: PlanetArk: Global Climate Talks Can Reach AgreementA global deal on a pact to succeed the U.N.’s main climate agreement is still within reach but will not be struck this year, with the pace of talks still far too slow, New Zealand’s top climate negotiator said on Wednesday. Inevitably, there would be a gap after the Kyoto Protocol’s first period expires in 2012, Minister of Climate Change Negotiations Tim Groser said in an interview after delegates from 35 nations attended two days of climate talks in Auckland.

2011/07/28: BBC: Somali famine: Fighting in Mogadishu after aid deliveryHeavy fighting has broken out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a day after the UN World Food Programme airlifted in its first famine emergency aid. At least four people are reported to have been killed as government forces, backed by African Union troops, attacked Islamist insurgents. The BBC’s Mohamed Dhore in Mogadishu says the clashes are in northern areas and unlikely to affect the aid effort. Thousands have arrived into government-controlled suburbs in search of food.

2011/07/26: CSM: Famine in the Horn of Africa: why the world is slow to respondDespite an estimated 12 million lives hanging in the balance, international food aid has been slow to arrive to strife-stricken Somalia and neighboring countries caught in the grip of what is now being called East Africa’s worst drought in 60 years. Causing the holdup: security concerns and an international community caught off guard by the severity of the drought.

2011/07/25: BBC: Horn of Africa famine: France warns of ‘scandal’The world has “failed to ensure food security”, France’s agriculture minister has said at the UN food agency crisis talks on East Africa’s drought. “If we don’t take the necessary measures, famine will be the scandal of this century,” AFP news agency quotes Bruno Le Maire as saying in Rome.

2011/07/28: G&M: Arctic scientist who wrote of drowned polar bears faces ‘integrity’ probeA U.S. wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct, possibly over the veracity of that article. Charles Monnett, an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE, was told July 18 that he was being put on leave, pending results of an investigation into “integrity issues.” But he has not yet been informed by the inspector general’s office of specific charges or questions related to the scientific integrity of his work, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Evidently Mr. Murdoch has never heard of the Second Watergate Law: “Don’t believe anything until it’s been officially denied.”:

It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. Now the Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, says decades. We’ll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.

2011/07/30: BBC: Earthquake jolts north-east Japan – no tsunami warningA 6.4 magnitude earthquake has been felt in north-east Japan, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo, reports say. The quake’s epicentre was off the east coast of Honshu. It struck in the same area as the 11 March earthquake and tsunami but no abnormalities at Japanese nuclear plants were reported, Reuters says.

2011/07/25: PostMedia: Toxins coming in from the coldEnvironment Canada sleuths have found that toxins such as PCBs that have been locked in an Arctic deep freeze are being “remobilized” as the climate warms. In a report published Sunday, they say that persistent organic pollutants, known as POPs, which were banned decades ago, are being released in the Arctic as sea ice retreats and temperatures rise.

2011/07/28: EurActiv: Report: Recession helped clean Europe’s airAir pollution plunged across Europe in 2009 as reduced energy demand lowered emissions from public power plants in countries such as Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Spain, new research shows. The drop was steepest for sulphur oxides (SOx), with emissions plummeting by 21% between 2008 and 2009. But emissions of other key pollutants from the electricity generating sector also tailed off, with nitrogen oxides (NOx) and primary particulate matter (PM) emissions both falling by around 10%.

2011/07/28: BBC: Huge Arctic fire hints at new climate cueAn exceptional wildfire in northern Alaska in 2007 put as much carbon into the air as the entire Arctic tundra absorbs in a year, scientists say. The Anaktuvuk River fire burned across more than 1,000 sq km (400 sq miles), doubling the extent of Alaskan tundra visited by fire since 1950.

2011/07/27: Eureka: Largest recorded tundra fire yields scientific surprisesIn 2007 the largest recorded tundra fire in the circumpolar arctic released approximately as much carbon into the atmosphere as the tundra has stored in the previous 50 years, say scientists in the July 28 issue of the journal Nature. The study of the Anaktuvuk River fire on Alaska’s North Slope revealed how rapidly a single tundra fire can offset or reverse a half-century worth of soil-stored carbon.

2011/07/28: ERW: Aerosols must be considered by climate modelsThe cooling effect of aerosols in the stratosphere must be accounted for properly by computer models of Earth’s climate, say climate scientists in the US who have modelled how tiny particles in the stratosphere contribute to the planet’s heat balance. Otherwise, models will overestimate future global warming, assuming that the background concentration of these aerosols remains at least as high as it is at present.

2011/07/25: CBC: Northern Ontario fire crews get weather breakFire crews battling a number of forest fires burning through northwestern Ontario are finally getting a break in the weather as cooler, wetter conditions reach the region. But officials cautioned Monday there are still major challenges to be met before the nearly 3,600 residents forced from their homes due to the threat of the fires are able to return home. Despite the change in weather over the weekend, there are still more than 100 fires burning in the area…

2011/07/27: al Jazeera: South Korea hit by deadly mudslidesRescue workers helping those trapped and searching for missing people in two different parts of the country. At least 17 people have been killed after two separate landslides hit South Korea, officials say.[…]South Korea has been buffeted by strong rain this week: about 400mm of rain fell in Seoul in just 17 hours starting on Tuesday afternoon.

2011/07/29: ABC(Au): Science plumbs depths to unravel climate changeScientists say new monitoring stations in the seas off Darwin in the Northern Territory will help them better predict changes in climate. The three monitoring stations have been placed in the Timor Passage and Ombai Strait north of Darwin as part of an Australia-wide project to monitor ocean conditions. They are up to three kilometres long and stretch from the ocean floor to 40 metres below the surface. Researcher Bernadette Sloyan from the CSIRO says the stations contain a range of instruments to monitor how warm water from the Pacific Ocean influences Indian Ocean ecosystems.

2011/07/28: BBC: Peer-review in science ‘can be improved’, MPs reportMPs have recommended improvements to the way scientific papers are checked before they are published. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report said this “peer-review” process of science journals should be more transparent. Their recommendations include making scientific data publicly available, and formal training for reviewers. Their report also recommends the appointment of an oversight body to ensure integrity in science research.

2011/07/24: SwissInfo: Climate change “endangers global security”Climate change poses a major threat to future global peace and security, warns Swiss conflict specialist Kurt Spillmann. His comments followed a heated debate in the United Nations Security Council earlier this week on whether the environment was a security matter meriting the attention of the 15-nation body. “Climate change is not an immediate motivation for conflict between states,” Spillmann, former head of the Center for Security Studies in Zurich, told swissinfo.ch “But it is creating stress on large parts of Africa, Southeast Asia and in the Americas, and leads to tensions between groups and regions and results in large streams of environmental refugees.” “And that in turn creates insecurity between populations. We have little experience of these kind of threats to security.”

2011/07/29: BBC: Fuel efficiency: US and car makers agree to new standardMajor carmakers have agreed new fuel efficiency standards proposed by the Obama administration in an effort to end the dominance of gas guzzlers. They have agreed that by 2025, cars and light trucks sold in the US will drive on average 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) of fuel, compared with 27 mpg today.

2011/07/26: CBC: Canadian firm’s oilsands pipeline debated in U.S.Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted Tuesday night to approve a bill that would force U.S. President Barack Obama to make a decision on TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline by Nov. 1. The U.S. State Department is reviewing the $7-billion US pipeline proposal, with a preliminary environmental assessment expected by mid-August. The pipeline would transport Alberta oilsands crude through the American heartland to refineries on the Gulf Coast. The State Department’s final decision on the project is expected by the end of the year.

2011/07/26: EurActiv: Carmakers to get carbon credits for ‘eco-innovation’Car manufacturers will receive CO2 emissions credits if their new cars are fitted with approved ‘eco-innovations’ under legislation adopted by the European Commission yesterday (25 July). The credits, for innovations that reduce carbon emissions, will be usable within the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS).

2011/07/26: ABC(Au): Report warns of climate change devastationThe Australian Climate Commission says the Illawarra region, on the New South Wales south coast, is facing devastating bushfires, floods and loss of biodiversity by the year 2100 if it does not act on climate change. The commission has released its report today into the impact of climate change in the region, titled The Critical Decade: Illawarra and South Coast Impacts.

2011/07/29: ABC(Au): Gillard rejects ‘carbon cops’ criticismPrime Minister Julia Gillard has rejected strident Opposition criticism of the so-called carbon cops, the officials who will be appointed to police pollution levels from industry. The draft legislation for the scheme to put a price on carbon was released on Thursday, including the details of the regulation mechanism.

2011/07/29: ABC(Au): Local catchment groups to manage waterA South Australian member of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has given an insight into what will be contained in the new Basin plan. An earlier one was scrapped due to widespread opposition and a new draft plan is expected to be released next month.

2011/07/29: al Jazeera: Can water end the Arab-Israeli conflict?Could solving the water crisis in Israel and Palestine also help resolve the entrenched occupation and conflict?Around three weeks ago on a late Tuesday morning, Israeli soldiers armed with a truck and a digger entered the Palestinian village of Amniyr and destroyed nine water tanks. One week later, Israeli forces demolished water wells and water pumps in the villages of Al-Nasaryah, Al-Akrabanyah and Beit Hassan in the Jordan Valley. In Bethlehem, a severe water shortage have led to riots in refugee camps and forced hoteliers to pay over the odds for water just to stop tourists from leaving.Palestinians insist that the Israeli occupation means that they are consistently denied their water rights which is why they have to live on 50 litres of water a day while Israeli settlers enjoy the luxury of 280 litres. Clearly, water is at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict, but commentators are now insisting that shared water problems could help motivate joint action and better co-operation between both sides, which could in turn help end the conflict.

2011/07/29: PlanetArk: Palestinians Fear For Ancient West Bank Water SourceHewn from rock, the cavernous cisterns which dot the desert beyond Bethlehem have for centuries harvested winter rain to provide shepherds and their flocks with water through summer. Under a baking sun, an elderly Bedouin explains how cisterns he remembers from childhood, many of them restored to full working order in the last few years, are once again helping his goat-herding community to survive. That, he concludes, is why the Israeli authorities who control the West Bank have demolished at least three in the area since November.

2011/07/28: PostMedia: Report questions value of federal clean energy initiativesAn internal federal report is raising questions about the value of some recent government spending on clean energy initiatives, including hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding for the fossil fuel industry that has produced few tangible results in terms of a reduction in emissions. The analysis, released to Postmedia News through access to information legislation, said that regulations, standards and other similar policy tools are the most cost-effective options for cracking down on industrial pollution. On the other hand, it said that a wide range of “incentive-based initiatives” was stimulating the economy and creating jobs, but was more expensive and less effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

2011/07/30: PostMedia: Canada overstating effect of greenhouse gas policiesThe Conservative government is overestimating the effectiveness of some of its environmental policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and is nowhere near being able to meet its 2020 emissions target, according to an analysis published last week. The report, produced by an independent arm’s-length agency, broke out eight specific federal policies and their estimates, and found that the government made reliable estimates for only three. The other five were “likely overestimated,” according to the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.

2011/07/29: CBC: Federal scientist unfairly silenced, union saysThe union representing tens of thousands of federal scientists says the Conservative government is unfairly silencing its members. The comments come after Kristi Miller, a researcher for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, was banned from discussing her work with the media. Miller’s research focuses on the decline of salmon stocks. In January, she was the lead author on an article in the journal Science that suggested the drop in numbers of sockeye salmon in B.C.’s Fraser River might be due to a viral infection. Reporters lined up to interview her, but the federal government barred her from speaking to the media.

2011/07/26: PostMedia: Feds silence scientist over West Coast salmon studyTop bureaucrats in Ottawa have muzzled a leading fisheries scientist whose discovery could help explain why salmon stocks have been crashing off Canada’s West Coast, according to documents obtained by Postmedia News. The documents show the Privy Council Office, which supports the Prime Minister’s Office, stopped Kristi Miller from talking about one of the most significant discoveries to come out of a federal fisheries lab in years.

2011/07/29: CBC: Court orders caribou plan by SeptemberA federal court judge in Edmonton has given Environment Minister Peter Kent until Sept. 1 to release his promised national recovery plan for caribou. Justice Peter Crampton says the federal government must revisit its refusal to issue an emergency order aimed at protecting the endangered caribou in the Alberta oilsands region. Kent will also have to explain his conclusions, Crampton wrote in a decision Friday. The judge said Jim Prentice, the former federal environment minister, never explained why he decided against an emergency order that would protect caribou habitat, although all available science pointed to the need for one.

2011/07/29: CBC: Northern B.C. fracking licence concerns criticsCritics are concerned that the B.C. government is allowing a natural gas company to draw water from a northern BC Hydro reservoir to use in a controversial technique called fracking. The government has approved a long-term water licence for Talisman Energy to draw water from Williston Lake, a BC Hydro reservoir in northern B.C. for the next 20 years.

2011/07/30: PostMedia: Picking up the pace in Alberta’s oilsandsIt was the first oilsands tour in memory where iconic giant mining trucks didn’t hog the spotlight. And where imposing bitumen extraction, processing and upgrading facilities were relegated to footnote status. The unprecedented star of the show organized for journalists this week by a team of oilsands mining companies was tailings – the sand, silt, water, clay, residual oil and other substances left after bitumen is extracted and stored in man-made lakes. The toxic waters are more known as a black eye for the industry than a point of pride.[…]Only 1.28 per cent of tailings ponds has been reclaimed after more than 40 years of mining…

2011/07/28: BBC: Exxon profits up on higher oil pricesUS oil giant Exxon Mobil has reported a rise in quarterly profits on the back of higher oil prices. The company said that net profit rose to $10.7bn (£6.6bn) for the three months to June, up 41% from the same period last year. The profit was its largest since the third quarter of 2008. The firm said production had risen by 10%. Higher oil prices have also boosted rivals such as Royal Dutch Shell, which reported a 77% jump in profits.

2011/07/28: BBC: Shell profits jump 77% on higher oil pricesOil giant Royal Dutch Shell has reported a 77% jump in second-quarter profit, thanks to higher energy prices. Shell’s profit for the three months to June came in at $8bn (£4.9bn) on a current cost of supplies basis, up from $4.5bn in the same period last year. Though oil and gas production was 2% lower than the same quarter in 2010, the company said it had benefited from asset sales in the first half of 2011. Earlier this week, rival BP announced second-quarter profits of $5.3bn. On Thursday, larger US rival Exxon Mobil said that net profit rose 41% to $10.7bn for the three months to June from the same period last year.

2011/07/25: BBC: Iran in ‘$10bn deal to export gas to Europe’Iran has signed a preliminary $10bn (£6.25bn) deal with Syria and Iraq to export some of its natural gas, local media have reported. The memorandum of understanding signed by oil ministers from the three countries would see a 3,100 mile pipeline built through Iraq, Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean. The deal may allow exports of gas to Europe – according to the Iranian Oil Ministry’s website, Shana. It would also supply gas to Syria.

2011/07/26: BBC: Cows ‘may offer greener fuel key’A cow’s stomach could hold the key to creating more environmentally friendly versions of petrol and diesel, according to Edinburgh scientists. Researchers are investigating how enzymes found in the stomachs of cattle and other ruminants, animals which “chew cud”, could be used industrially.

2011/07/29: PlanetArk: UK Solar Plants Soar Ahead Of Government Tariff CutsBritish solar power capacity rose by more than 50 percent in the three months to June as developers scrambled to finish projects before lower government support tariffs kick in next month, energy ministry data showed Thursday. Installed capacity for photovoltaic plants rose by 56 percent to 121.6 megawatts (MW) between March and June and grew more than eighteenfold in one year.

2011/07/26: PlanetArk: Analysis: Solar Specialists Embrace Tieups To Resist Squeeze OutGrappling with sliding prices and margins, solar specialists, or stand-alone makers of wafers and cells, risk being squeezed out of the market by their fully integrated Chinese rivals who are investing billions of dollars in technology. The new reality is forcing solar specialists, mostly Taiwanese, which have long had a simple business model that generated steady revenues and modest margins, to form partnerships and diversify at a faster pace to stay in the business.

2011/07/26: BBC: South Korea and India sign nuclear dealSouth Korea’s ambitions to enter the Indian energy market have received a big boost as the two countries signed a civil nuclear deal. The agreement will allow South Korea to export its nuclear energy technology to India. The deal comes at a time when India has been struggling to keep up its energy supply to meet the increased demand in wake of its rapid expansion. South Korea is the ninth country to sign a nuclear deal with India.

2011/07/29: CSM: How to store nuclear waste? Panel slams US and urges new approach.Saying the US government “has not inspired confidence or trust” in nuclear waste management, a presidential commission recommended Friday the creation of a new federal corporation to spearhead a “consent-based” approach to finding sites to store highly radioactive spent fuel and military waste. The highly anticipated report by President Obama’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future also calls for new interim storage facilities to hold used nuclear fuel until permanent underground repositories can be developed — and legislation to grant the new federal entity access to federal nuclear waste funds.

My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.